Dear Pojo,

Please post this in the single card strategy section, thanx.

    There are now many cards in the Pokémon TCG.  However, few are as widely
debated as Charizard.  In this article, I will take an impartial viewpoint on
the subject looking at Charizard's good and bad points.
    First of all, lets see Charizard's stats:

Name: Charizard
Type: Stage 2 -- from Charmeleon
Card #: card 4 of 102
Rarity: Rare - Holo
Color: Fire
HP: 120 HP
Weakness: W
Resistance: F -30
Retreat: 3
Species: Flame
Level: 76
Pokémon #: 6
Power: Energy Burn
As often as you like during your turn (before your attack), you
may turn all Energy attached to Charizard into R for the rest
of the turn. This power can't be used if Charizard is Asleep,
Confused, or Paralyzed..
Attack: [RRRR] Fire Spin (100)
Discard 2 Energy cards to use.

    Lets first take a look at the good and bad points.  To make reading
easier, I'll just list them.

    The Good:

· Unbeatable 120 HP
· A great resistance to fighting, a very common color these days
· The ability to use any type of energy with "energy burn"
· A powerful attack that is able to knock out all pokémon with the exception
of Chancey and another Charizard

The Bad:

· Charizard, being a stage 2, is a real pain in the @$$ to get out.
· It takes 4 FIRE ENERGIES, that's right not colorless, but FIRE ENERGIES. 
Sure Charizard got Energy Burn, but what if he's confused?
· A nasty 3 for retreat makes him hard to move around
· You need to discard two to be able to use Fire Spin
· While Charizard has a resistance to fighting, a common color, his weakness
is also a common color.  But with only one big difference:  A Blastoise (the
most common water pokémon) does 60 damage max.  60 X 2 = 120 = Charizard's HP

The first thing that everyone notices about Charizard, is either his
100-damage attack or his 120 HP.  The next thing that people sees is that you
need to discard two to use his one and only attack.  However, if you do use
that attack, it will destroy almost any opposition that is put ahead of you. 
If you think about it, Fire Spin is the best 100-damage attack there is.  For
Zapdos's Thunderbolt you have to discard all of your energies, and for
Magneton's and Golem's Self-destruct you have to destroy them as well,
therefore giving both you and your opponent a prize.  For Nidoqueen's Love
Love attack, you have to have 4 Nidokings on your bench to be able to do 100
damage, What's the chance of that happening?  For Vileplume's Petal dance,
you'd only have a 12.5% chance doing 100 damage (a very small percentage),
and then you have a 50% chance of becoming confused.  For Exeggutor's Big
Eggsplosion, you must have 10 energies on him to even have a 50% chance of
dealing 100 damage, which is even more energy and time consuming than
Charizard.  Its 80HP won't last long either, and that weakness to fire will
make it worse because of  the new Fossil Magmar.  Let's not even talk about
Geodude's Stone Barrage.  There is a .1% chance that it will do 100 damage. 
That's not a typo its 1/1024 chance.  Charizard also has a pokémon power that
helps out with his energy wasting attack.  Still, how many pokémon has 100 HP
anyway?  And what if he's affected by a statis effect, then Char's screwed. 
It is much more efficient to use another attack such as Solar Beam twice. 
But the problem with that is that you will give your opponent time to heal
their pokémon before the next attack. 
Although Charizard does have 120 HP, it's also a stage two.  This means that
its lower evolutions might get KO'ed before the big lizard can come out.  Its
three retreat cost sucks too.  It makes him less mobile on a game currently
dominated by speed.  That is a huge killer.  Charizard does have a nice
resistance against fighting.  That means it'll take Hitmonchan a while to KO
him.  But Charizard also shares the common weakness to water as does all fire
pokémon with the exception of Moltres.  That means it will be Raindance bait.
Blastoise's Hydro Pump can do 60 damage.  That plus Charizard's weakness
will send the poor lizard straight to the discard pile.  Finally there's the
problem of finding Charizard.  You have to have (well, in my opinion anyway)
at least 2 Stage 2s if you want to efficiently use him.  So lets not forget
that it costs about 35 bucks to buy one of them.  Or else you could start
buying booster packs.  I mean, there is only about one in a million chance of
getting one.  All you have to do is spend a few billion dollars. L Either
way, you'd need a pretty fat wallet.
So what is the best way of using a Charizard.  Well, Charizard isn't really a
"fighting" pokémon; he's what I call an enforcer.  Those are pokémons with
HUGE attacks that destroys any stubborn opposition put up by the opponent,
then retreats to the bench.  Charizard fits that description perfectly.  As I
see it, Charizard should be used that way.  But if you're going to do that,
why not use a different pokémon who's easier to get out and less energy
consuming.  Charizard cannot be a fighter, even with that huge HP.  Sooner or
later, your opponent will be able to knock him out.  And when they do, you
are left with an unprepared and energy-less bench. 
To conclude this 1100 word article, I would have to say that you shouldn't
use Charizard in your deck.  YOU HEAR THAT ALL YOU ROOKIE TRAINERS?! 
However, that is just my opinion.  You might think a different way but that
is what I think.  There are much better pokémons out there who can do the
same things (or close to the same things) as Charizard.  One of them is
Arcanine.  He has a great 100HP.  He can be a fighter and an enforcer.  He
could do 80 damage with 2 FIRE and 2 COLORLESS making it rather easy to power
him up (Attach two fire and slap on a DCE).  He is faster to get out being a
stage 1.  But most of all, he's a lot easier on our pocketbook.  Well, you've
heard my opinion and most of the facts.  Putting Charizard in your deck is
your decision.  But I hope this article will help you out, and speaking of
which, sorry for the long article.

Hatemails, comments, and others are welcomed at:
Pokemondwz@aol.com
Pokmondwz@hotmail.com

Oh and one more thing:  If I missed any facts about Charizard please let me
know, one guy can't cover everything.